LIVING VENTURES RESTAURANTS has achieved 28th place on the Top 100 Best Companies To Work For list to be published in the Sunday Times on 4 March.
This is what the Sunday Times found:
'Living Ventures has the right ingredients when it comes to employee engagement, with staff reporting a strong team ethic, great opportunities for development, astrong sense of wellbeing and positive leadership.
'Not bad, considering the Cheshire based firm belongs to the catering and bar industry, renowned for itsantisocial hours, cantankerous bosses and limited career opportunities.
'However in our survey staff report that the pressure of work is not bad enough to affect their concentration (a 78% positive score). Their training is ofgreat personal benefit and working in their teams gives them a buzz (both 79%). All these results make the top 10 nationally.
'Living Ventures was founded in 1999 by entrepreneurs Tim Bacon and Jeremy Roberts, stemming from their first ventures, The Living Room. The brand developed across most leading cities in Britain based on its bid to offer quality without exclusivity and high levels of service without high prices.
'Today,operations include Gusto, a chain of Italian restaurants and the Blackhouse steak and seafood restaurants. The company also has Suburbia, a nightclub based in Hale and several ventures in Manchester including Alchemist Bar specialising in theatrical cocktails, Australasia restaurant and The Oast House pub.
'The company gets its overall highest factor rank of ninth in My Team. Every year it holds an event called 'the LV challenge' a quiz based on food, drink and Living Ventures core knowledge.
'Each restaurant and bar in the group enters, and last year’s winners bagged £3,000 and an all expenses paid trip to the Prosecco region in Italy, which included a three-day tour of the area. In addition, all staff are rewarded for hard work over the busy Christmas period with a company night out and their restaurant or bar is closed to allow everyone to attend.
'There is a strong sense of family within their teams staff tell us (scoring 81%, ranked 7th) and employees have fun with their colleagues (89%, a scorebettered by just two other firms in our survey).
'Leadership is highly regarded. Bacon started his career as a bartender and Roberts began by washing dishes in his Dad’s hotel. Employees believe senior managers live the values of the organisation (81%, ranked 7th) and are confident in their leadership skills (82%).
'Training is compulsory no matter what anyone’s previous experience or qualifications. As a result, jobs at Living Ventures are good for personalgrowth (80%).'
Impressive stuff.
Tim Bacon told Confidential: "It's great to have such a ringing endorsement of how we run the business from the people that make it happen for us every week."
Hanging kebabs at the Oast House
